


Star-Crossed

by Wolfeyes8



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Happily Ever After Fest, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-22 11:42:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 20,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22115416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfeyes8/pseuds/Wolfeyes8
Summary: This fanfic will be a retelling of the movies. I love the relationship/chemistry between Kylo and Rey but hated how glossed over it was. I want to really explore their dynamic in-depth. I plan on using the portions of the novelizations that focus on Kylo and Rey as a skeleton (please don't report me lol), and then expanding on them (like the movies, the novelizations aren't in-depth enough for my taste). I'll also be tweaking some of the existing scenes slightly, because I thought some things didn't make sense. I'll add in a few of my own original scenes as well, but nothing that will change the story too much, because I really like it the way that it is. Obviously I will change the ending so they get the HEA they deserve. I'll most likely go a bit beyond the ending as well, so we can see what life could have been like for a redeemed Ben Solo and Rey. I won't focus on the other characters too much, as it's mainly Reylo that I'm interested in. When there's a passage of time, just use the movies to fill in the blank of what happened. It'll end up rated M, but will definitely be a slow burn.
Relationships: Kylo Ren & Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	1. What girl?

There he was, just at the periphery of her dream, as always. Rey watched as the masked figure extended a gloved hand towards her, beckoning her to come closer. Entranced, she took one hesitant step forward, and then another. She paused for a moment, shivering. If she closed her eyes, she could feel his presence in every fiber of her being, as if they were one entity. Smiling, she opened her eyes and reached towards him. Just as their hands touched, skin against cool leather, he vanished.

Rey awoke with a start. Sweat drenched the white linen shirt she wore and tangles of curly, dark hair stuck to her face. She'd had the dream again, she realized. Devastation cut through her, hard and fast. The sensation was so overwhelming, so powerful, that she gasped out loud. She could handle physical pain. Jakku was a harsh, unrelenting planet where thirst and hunger were a part of everyday life. As a scavenger, she was no stranger to broken bones and torn ligaments, which were commonplace in such a dangerous profession. It was the emotional pain that she hated having to endure. As if her parents abandoning her weren't enough, she had been plagued by dreams of a masked being who made her feel… whole. He called to her as she slept, promising a future where she wouldn't feel so painfully alone. Rey wanted nothing more than for the dream to continue, but as always, the figure would vanish just as quickly as he had appeared.

Frustrated, she balled up a corner of the sheets in her hand. If the dreams would just stop, she could live with how out of place she felt. She could handle the pain that came with being utterly, devastatingly alone in a galaxy full of other life forms. But the dreams had been increasing in frequency, to the point where she was sure they were close to driving her mad. If she were still on Jakku, and not aboard the Millennium Falcon, she would have done what she usually did after having the dream - run until she couldn't run anymore. One foot in front of the other, until her dinner threatened to make a reappearance. It wasn't until she was completely spent, until the physical pain outweighed the emotional pain, that she could put the dream behind her and move on. At least until the next day. With an agitated sigh, she threw off the covers and went to find Han, Chewie and Finn.

*****

The great sweep of the external observation portal on the Star Destroyer Finalizer allowed anyone standing before it an uninterrupted view of the vastness of space. Suns and nebulae, mysteries and conundrums, all were laid out before the view. It was a view intended to awe and inspire, hence the presence of the portal where visual pickups and monitors would have sufficed just as well.

Kylo Ren regarded it in silence. He had been trained in contemplation, was skilled in deliberation, could remain meditating just so for hours at a time. But he was losing patience.

Approaching from behind, all Lieutenant Mitaka could see was a tall, caped figure silhouetted against the spray of stars. He did not look forward to having to make the report, but it was his responsibility and he had no choice. It wasn't the first time he had been compelled to deliver bad news to a superior officer. But Kylo Ren was different. Not precisely a superior officer but something else. At that moment, Mitaka would rather have been anywhere else in the civilized galaxy than alone in a room with Kylo Ren.

The caped figure did not turn. He did not have to. Mitaka knew Kylo was aware of his arrival as if he had watched him approach. He was tracking the lieutenant with something other than eyes.

"Something to report, Lieutenant? Or have you come, like myself, to marvel at this view?"

"Sir?"

A gloved hand rose to take in the sweep of light and energy arrayed before them.

"Look at it, Lieutenant. So much beauty among so much turmoil. In a way, we are but an infinitely smaller reflection of the same conflict. It is the task of the First Order to remove the disorder from our own existence, so that civilization may be returned to the stability that promotes progress. A stability that existed under the Empire, was reduced to anarchy by the Rebellion, was inherited in turn by the so-called Republic, and will be restored by us. Future historians will look upon this as the time when a strong hand brought the rule of law back to civilization."

Mitaka forbore mentioning that the Republics had developed their own codes of law. To do so would have been… indelicate, and he doubted that Kylo was in the mood for a political discussion of any kind. Standing at attention, he presented his brief report.

"Sir. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to acquire the BB-8 droid on Jakku."

Now Kylo did turn. Mitaka would have preferred it the other way. He always found it unsettling to have to gaze at the metal mask beneath the cowl.

"It was destroyed?" Do not tell me, Lieutenant, that the droid was destroyed."

Mitaka swallowed hard. "No, sir. At least, not as far as we are able to determine. Reports from the ground indicate –"

He was interrupted. "No aerial survey results?"

"Two TIE fighters accompanied the recovery party. Contact has been lost with both and it is assumed they encountered unforeseen difficulties."

Kylo sneered softly. "You equivocate like a senator. Go on."

"Reports from our troopers on the ground indicate that the droid escaped capture by taking flight aboard a stolen Corellian freighter, a YT model. An older craft but in the hands of a competent pilot, a capable one."

Atypically, a touch of uncertainty colored Kylo's response. "The droid… stole a freighter?"

"Not exactly, sir. Again, according to these preliminary reports, it had help." Mitaka was starting to sweat. "We have no confirmation, but brief glimpses by our troopers correlated with the location of an earlier crash site lead us to believe that the trooper FN-2187 may have been –"

He broke off as Kylo reached for the lightsaber at his belt, activated the weapon, and raised the intense red band high. Expecting a swift judgement, Mitaka closed his eyes and shrank back. The sound of screeching metal and breaking glass filled the observation portal, causing Mitaka to open his eyes again. Kylo was attacking the nearby console, the walls, the deck, ripping and slashing long lines of bleeding metal into the very fabric of the ship. His rage was terrible to behold. Mitaka strove to maintain perfectly still, to control his breathing, to become as invisible as possible lest he become nothing more than an inadvertent recipient of Ren's fury. Whether by chance or design, Ren spared him.

Shutting off the lightsaber, the taller man turned to the wretched bearer of bad news. He spoke calmly, as if his mad, destructive rampage had been nothing more than a brief interlude: an illusion.

"Anything else?"

At least the worst of the report has been delivered, Mitaka knew. And he was still standing alive. He allowed himself to relax ever so slightly.

"The two were accompanied and likely abetted in their flight by a third party, presumably a local. A girl."

Raising a gloved hand, Kylo pulled the startled lieutenant violently forward until his fingers were wrapped around Mitaka's neck. As the officer struggled to breath in the remorseless grasp, Kylo Ren's voice took on a timbre lower and more menacing than any the lieutenant had ever heard.

"What girl?"

*****

For such a small droid, BB-8 was remarkably persistent. Kneeling beside him, Rey continued to argue.

"You have to go back, you're too important. They'll help you."

As she spoke, her words were nearly drowned out. She looked to the sky and her confusion quickly turned to horror as she saw a fleet of First Order ships headed towards the castle. The castle – where her friends still were. A sickening feeling rocked through her, settling in the pit of her stomach.

Without a moment's hesitation, she pushed herself to her feet and took off running, BB-8 hot on her heels. The forest around her became a blur, the various shades of green blurring together to form one blended hue. Run. The thought echoed across her mind and she did not allow herself to think of anything else. She concentrated on putting one foot in the front of the other, she was reduced to a mass of bones, muscles and ligaments, working together in perfect harmony to propel her forward. She ducked and twirled gracefully to avoid the protruding branches that seemed intent on gorging out her eyes and her feet barely made contact with the mossy carpet as she flitted across it, but her chest heaved with the effort and beads of perspiration trickled down her forehead as her lungs shrieked in protest.

Only when she reached the top of a slight incline and was afforded a view of the castle did she allow herself a moment to stop. Wide-eyed, she watched in horrid fascination as swooping TIE fighters let loose a fury of blasts and explosions that quickly began to reduce the stone walls, turning them to dust. She watched as a large tower toppled over, and prayed that somehow her friends had managed to flee the complex before the attack had begun in earnest.

"FN-417, hold position." Rey turned to find a stormtrooper in the distance, facing away from her. With shaky hands, she reached behind her back and fumbled with the blaster. After aiming it at the stormtrooper, she pulled the trigger. A moment of panic ensued when nothing happened, and then she remembered that the safety was on. Holding her breath, she released the safety and fired the weapon again. This time, a crimson beam of light flew out of the weapon, finding purchasing in a rock beside the stormtroopers head. Alerted to her presence, the stormtrooper spun around and returned fire. She ducked out of the way just in time as a tree beside her erupted in flames and splintered branches flew. Biting her lip in frustration, she focused her aim and pulled the trigger again. This time, the shot connected with the stormtroopers chest, sending him careening backwards until a sickening thud could be heard as his lifeless body hit the ground. She stared at her blaster in shock, as if someone else had been responsible for pulling the trigger.

Snap out of it, she thought to herself, at the same time BB-8 chirped loudly beside her.

Looking up, a red beam of light flew past her cheek so closely she could feel its warmth. Raising her blaster in the direction the attack had come from, she fired off multiple shots while simultaneously rushing back into the forest, under the cover of the trees.

Realizing just how close the First Order were to obtaining the map, Rey pleaded with the droid to leave.

"You have to keep going, stay out of sight, I'll try to fight them off."

BB-8, finally listening, spun around and took off. She breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short lived as another tree erupted beside her. She reached instinctively for her face, shielding her eyes as bits of bark flew in all directions. Ducking, she ran deeper into the forest, imagining the searing hot pain of a blaster bullet finding purchase in her exposed back.

As the alien woods closed in around her, she jumped at every sound, glanced sharply at every wind-rustled branch and falling leaf. Holding tightly to the blaster, she tried to formulate a plan, but slowed down as she sensed something up ahead. Bringing her blaster up, she watched as a figure stepped out from behind a tree.

He was tall and cloaked entirely in black, his face hidden behind an ominous mask. In his hands he held a lightsaber unlike any she had ever heard of. Its beam was an intense, burning red like a controlled flame, and near the hilt, a pair of shorter beams shot outward, perpendicular to the main shaft. She felt the blood in her veins turn to ice.

Raising the blaster, she fired numerous shots at the figure, and watched in dismay as he deflected each shot with the lightsaber's beam effortlessly. Almost as if it were a game, she thought in terror as she continued to fire. Sparks flew as the lightsaber connected with the volley of blaster bullets, filling the woods with a smoky scent.

Her heart was pounding so loudly inside of her head, she couldn't hear anything else. With a sickening feeling, she realized that shooting at him wasn't going to work. More than that, she realized that he was, without a doubt, playing with her. She wasn't a threat to him at all. The image of a cat toying with a mouse filled her head. Stumbling backwards, she ducked behind a large rock and quickly scrambled up it, her fingers easily finding purchase in the dirt. The figure followed closely behind, the whirring sound of the lightsaber cutting through the pounding in her head. Turning around to face him again, she raised her blaster, although she knew it was in vain. She fired at him uselessly, her expression distraught. She hadn't imagined what her death would look like, or feel like. But if she had, it would not have been like this. Terror, pure and raw, threatened to overwhelm her and she wished fervently that she would slip into unconsciousness. She didn't want to be awake for whatever was going to happen next.

Growing tired of his game, the figure raised a gloved hand and held it toward her, palm outward. As she inhaled sharply, her hand froze on the blaster. She tried to turn, to run, but her legs refused to respond. She was frozen, immobilized against her will with invisible restraints. She could only stand there among the trees as he came toward her.

Shaking, she watched as he halted an arm's length away from her, studying her face from behind his mask. She said nothing as he walked slowly around her paralyzed body. Frightened, she tried to follow him with her eyes, but her head would not turn. Having circled her, he moved even closer, peering into her face, her eyes. She stared back at him, wondering what was beneath the metallic mask. Perhaps he was grotesquely mutilated, so hideous that the mask was a necessity.

"The girl I've heard so much about." He said finally, breaking the silence in the small clearing. His voice, while ominous, was not unpleasant.

She stared back at him, defiant.

Shutting down and belting his lightsaber, Kylo contemplated his immobile captive. He felt a strange pull towards her, something he hadn't felt before. After a moment, he reached up slowly, holding his hand inches from her face. The pressure he applied was not physical, but she felt it immediately. Pain exploded behind her closed eyes as she felt him violate her mind. A single tear slid down her cheek as she strained against the intrusion. Fighting him took so much effort, her breath started coming out in short, ragged gasps. If only she could get a hand free, or a leg – but no part of her body responded to her commands.

She was suddenly overcome with the urge to rip off his mask and hook her fingers into his eye sockets. It wasn't fair, the amount of pain and suffering that he was responsible for. He should have to pay for it, in blood.

"You would kill me. Knowing nothing about me." He murmured, sounding both impressed and surprised.

"Why wouldn't I kill you? I know about the First Order." She shot back, her words dripping in venom, despite her fear.

Ignoring her, he continued. "You've met the traitor who served under me. A minor annoyance grown larger than he deserves. You find him more than tolerable." He drew back slightly, bemused. "You've even begun to care for him. A weakness, such distractions."

She agonized as she stared back at him. Surely she hadn't thought of Finn! She'd tried to keep her mind blank, her memory locked, and still he had managed to sneak his way in. He was within her mind and her thoughts, and there was nothing – nothing! – she could do to keep him out. To resist him. But she kept trying, her muscles cramping with the effort. In the corners of her vision, she could see white dots.

Suddenly he put his face so close to hers that they were almost touching. "The map. You've seen it."

She could hardly swallow as she strained to pull away from him, anything to pull away, to get him out. She wanted to scream.

Nearby, explosions could be heard. He ceased his probing as he turned toward the now ruined castle.

Relieved of the mental intrusion, she sucked in great, long draughts of air.

A clutch of stormtroopers, breathing hard, came toward them through the trees.

"Sir," the leader gasped, his alarm and dismay evident, "Resistance fighters. We need more troops!"

Kylo considered. Though he was not technically in charge of battlefield decisions, no officer would attempt to overrule any decision he choose to make.

"Pull the division out. Forget the droid. We have what we need."

Before she could contemplate his words, the unconsciousness that she had wished so desperately for earlier came. Kylo caught the girl just as she collapsed.


	2. Don't be afraid, I feel it too.

The complex restraining apparatus held Rey upright against an angled platform in the cell. She awoke with a start. Disoriented, she thought at first that she was alone. Her oversight was understandable, since the other person in the holding area did not move, did not make a sound, and at times scarcely seemed to breath.

Though startled by his unsettlingly silent presence, she took a moment to take stock of her surroundings. They were as different as could be imagined from her previous ones. The last thing she remembered was the confrontation in the forest on Takodana, the sounds of battle, and sending away the droid BB-8. That, and then the mind probe. The pain. Her efforts to shut it out, and the contemptuous ease with which her mental defenses had been brushed aside. Even now, there was a lingering ache at the back of her eyes.

Testing the strength of the restraints, she realized with dread that she wasn’t going anywhere. Not anytime soon, at least. Fresh waves of terror washed through her, threatening to drown her.

The forest was gone. So was Maz’s castle. Bereft of a point of reference, she had no choice but to ask, “Where am I?” She was relieved to hear that her voice only very slightly betrayed her fear.

“You’re my guest.” Kylo replied. In his voice there was an unexpected gentleness. Not quite sympathy, but something less than the hostility with which he had confronted her in the forest.

“Where are the others?”

He sniffed disdainfully. “Do you mean the traitors, murderers and thieves you call friends? You’ll be relieved to hear that I have no idea.”

She stared at him. He dared to call her friends traitors and murderers, when he was the largest traitor and murderer in the galaxy. White hot anger coursed through her veins and she was once again overcome with the urge to tear him limb from limb.

“You still want to kill me,” he murmured.

Her true self got the better of her and she replied tactlessly, despite the danger. “That happens when you’re being hunted by a creature in a mask.”

She had a moment to ponder his possible reaction and to fear it. But he did not do what she expected. Instead, he reached up, unlatched his mask and removed it.

He was not hideously deformed, as she had previously imagined. The reality was so much worse. His pale face was all hard lines and angles, framed by black hair that hung in waves past his ears. Dark brows sat atop even darker eyes, which were analyzing her with an intensity she hadn’t been able to see with his mask on. She stared down at the floor, unable to hold his gaze. This despicable human being, who prided himself on committing one atrocity after another, was utterly and unequivocally... beautiful. The phrase “what the fuck?” repeated itself over and over in her head.

“Tell me about the droid.” He finally said, breaking the strange tension in the room. He stepped forward until they were only a few feet apart.

She swallowed. “It’s a BB unit with a selenium drive and a thermal hyperscan vindicator -” Her voice held only a hint of sarcasm.

“It’s carrying a section of a transgalactic navigational chart." He interrupted cooly. "We have the rest, recovered from the archives of the Empire. We need the last piece. Somehow, you convinced the droid to give it to you. You. A scavenger."

She looked away, embarrassed. How did he know that? By the same means he had used to learn everything else?

“I know you’ve seen the map,” he repeated. When she maintained her silence, he almost sighed. “You know I can take whatever I want.”

Her muscles tightened. “Then you don’t need me to tell you anything.”

“I would have preferred to avoid this. Despite what you may believe, it gives me no pleasure.”

As his hand rose towards her face, she shrank back from him as far as the restraints would allow. He was standing so close to her now, she could feel his cool breath on her cheek. Avoiding his gaze, she focused on regulating her breathing. If she could just stay calm, maybe it would be easier to resist him.

She cringed at the intrusion as it began, the pain was just as severe as in the forest.

While he investigated her mind, he spoke softly, his face inches from hers. “You’ve been so lonely,” he murmured as he searched for what he needed. “So afraid to leave.” A thin smile crossed his face. “At night, desperate to sleep, you’d imagine an ocean. I see it… I see the island.” His tone turned notably softer, but she didn't feel as if he were mocking her.

A single, solitary tear rolled down her face. Feeling the moisture there annoyed her. Her tear-ducts had always been hard-wired to her emotions, a shameful, annoying inconvenience.

“And Han Solo,” he continued relentlessly, his voice growing slightly sharper. “You feel like he's the father you never had. He would have disappointed you.”

All the rage and terror bottled up inside her came out as she turned to meet his stare. “Get - out - of - my - head.” She snarled the words.

To her amazement, he pulled his hand away instantly and took a step back. She stared at him uncertainly, her nostrils flaring. She could never remember feeling so violated in her entire life.

“I know you’ve seen the map. It’s in there. And now you'll give it to me.”

Narrowing his gaze and his focus, he raised his hand again and locked eyes with her. She met his stare without trying to look away this time. Instead, she glared at him, trying not to flinch or blink as he leaned in closer once again, enhancing her feeling of complete helplessness.

Then, something strange happened. Having grown slightly more used to the intrusion, she was able to discern other feelings besides terror and pain. There was something else... something… warm. No, it was hot. White hot. But it wasn't painful, at least, not completely. She realized with horror that she felt… drawn to him in some strange way, like a moth to a flame. Some deeply buried part of her called out for him, as if her soul recognized his, as if she was incomplete without him and longed to be made whole. She recoiled from the atrocious thought instantly, trying to push it out of her head with all her might.

"Don't be afraid, I feel it too." He smirked at her. Not only were the thoughts unpleasant enough, but now she was subjected to knowing that he knew exactly how she felt.

Humiliation, shame, confusion, disgust and fear washed through her. So many emotions, she struggled to keep up with them all. Where the strength to defy him came from, she did not know, but her voice grew stronger, despite her perilous situation. “I’m not giving you anything.”

His response reflected his unconcern. “We’ll see.”

Ah, he thought to himself. Something there, of interest. Not the image of the map. That would take another moment. But definitely something worth investigating. He shifted his perception toward it, seeking to identify it, to analyze it, to-

The barrier he suddenly encountered stopped him cold, and it was he, Kylo Ren, who blinked. It made no sense. He pushed, hard, and the probe went nowhere.

A look of amazement replaced the fear on Rey’s face as she discovered herself inside his mind. Stunned at the revelation, she found herself inexorably drawn toward his thoughts. He was lonely, too. Perhaps even lonelier than her. Anger and hatred, the emotions hard and bitter, colored his thinking, distorting everything. Through it all, there was a rough undercurrent of some emotion she had trouble placing. Shame? Longing? Grief? As she pushed harder, a vision filled her head. There was a shrine, and atop it sat Darth Vader. She watched as Kylo stared up at the figure, terrified that he would never be as ruthless or capable as his grandfather. The fear permeated his life, destroying everything inside of him that it touched. But there was more. He was filled with knowledge of the force, an entire arsenal of instructions on Jedi mind tricks and other useful information existed inside of his head. She could feel how surprised he was at her intrusion, and she could feel him beginning to pull back.

“You,” she heard herself saying clearly, “you’re afraid. That you will never be as strong as Darth Vader.”

His hand pulled away sharply, as if she had physically burned him. Confused and rattled, he stumbled backwards, away from her. She followed him with her eyes, too absorbed in the moment to feel proud of herself for this small victory.

She looked no different from before, yet somehow, she had changed. There was something behind her eyes that hadn’t been there before. Even her posture had changed, making her appear taller despite her small stature.

He was breathing hard, which in and of itself was unsettling. He did not know what had just transpired, and was left uncertain how to proceed. He could not remember the last time he had been so shaken to his core. He was spared the bewilderment when a stormtrooper came through the door.

“Sir! The Supreme Leader has requested your presence.”

He cursed internally. On top of everything else, he still hadn’t found the map. He debated trying to infiltrate her mind again, but the realization that she could read his own thoughts stopped him cold.

“Watch her.” He commanded the stormtrooper roughly. “Don’t let her out of your sight.” He didn’t have to see the stormtroopers face to feel the puzzlement at his request. Why would one small, tightly restrained female captive need to be watched? But the stormtrooper knew better than to question a direct order, especially one from Kylo Ren.

After throwing one last, frustrated glance at his captive, Kylo stormed from the room.

Rey exhaled a sigh of relief, her entire body going slack, despite the fact that she was not entirely alone. For a moment, she contemplated the strange occurrence that had just taken place. At first there had been the same pain and fear she had felt in the forest. It had intensified as he had probed deeper and she fought to resist. Then - she had resisted. More than that, it was as if her resistance had somehow turned the probing back on him. For a brief instant, she had seen into his mind. She could hear and see his thoughts as clearly as she could see the holding cell around her now. How had she done that?

She could remember his shock, then concern, and finally his retreat. He had pulled away from her, and out of her mind, with a suddenness that bespoke - not fright, something else. Apprehension, she decided. Whatever she had done had thrown him badly off balance. He had withdrawn: no doubt only to consider what had taken place, and decide how to proceed with her. That meant, most likely, he would be back. She would do anything to avoid being there when he returned.

But how, exactly, could she free herself? She racked her brain for ideas. If she could resist Kylo, more than that, if she could see into his mind, what else could she be capable of? What might she be able to do to someone else? Someone less skilled, and untrained in the ways of the Force? The single stormtrooper standing in front of her, for example.

She sifted through her memories of Kylo’s thoughts. Mind control was a strange, intangible concept, and she had trouble wrapping her head around it. But it seemed, more or less, like a compulsion. All she had to do was clear her mind and focus on what she wanted, and the subject would feel compelled to obey her commands. Or at least, that was the best explanation she had been able to gather from his thoughts. Realizing that it was her only chance and she didn’t have much to lose, she turned to the stormtrooper and said in a small voice.

“You will remove these restraints and you will leave this cell, with the door open.”

The guard turned towards her, patently unconcerned and not a little bored. “Be quiet.” He ordered in a robotic voice.

Gritting her teeth, she studied him closely. Trying again, she addressed him clearly and firmly, with as much authority as she could muster. “You will remove these restraints and you will leave this cell, with the door open.”

The guard eyed her silently. He did not look in the least intimidated. Her confidence was wavering. As she shifted slightly in her restraints, she repeated herself again, and not only with her voice this time.

“You will remove these restraints and you will leave this cell, with the door open.” Something flowed through as she spoke, a feeling unlike any she had ever felt before. It worked its way from the tips of her toes to the roots of her hair, filling her with a strength and power that made her feel alive; the feeling was indescribable. Holding her breath, she waited.

This time, the guard raised the heavy black-and-white rifle he held, taking a step towards her. Her heart started to pound as she watched him approach. Was she going to be killed, freed, or laughed at? Halting before her, he looked down into her eyes. When he spoke again, there was a notable alteration in his voice. It was significantly less confrontational and - distant.

“I will remove these restraints and I will leave this cell, with the door open.” He parroted back at her. Working methodically, he unlatched her shackles. He stood and stared at her for a moment, then turned and wordlessly started for the doorway. She hardly knew what to do next. She was free. No, she corrected herself: she was free of this cell. That hardly constituted freedom.

But it was a start.

As the guard reached the doorway, she spoke hastily. “And you will drop your weapon.”

“And I will drop my weapon,” he responded in the same uninflected tone, before setting the rifle down on the floor. Straightening up, he departed the room in silence.

For a long moment, she stared at the open portal. Deciding that it was not a joke and that the guard was not waiting for her just outside the cell, she stumbled forward and picked up the weapon.

*****

In the vast, darkened assembly chamber of StarKiller base were only two figures: one tall and uncertain, the other looming and imperious. For all their isolation, they seemed to somehow fill the room.

There was as much curiosity in Supreme Leader Snoke’s voice as there was disappointment.

“This scavenger - this girl - resisted you?”

“She’s completely untrained but she is strong with the force. Stronger than she knows!” His mask off, Kylo replied with what seemed to be his usual assurance. No one else would have sensed a difference, but Snoke did.

The Supreme Leader’s voice was flat. “You have compassion for her.”

“Compassion? For an enemy of the Order?”

“I perceive the problem,” Snoke intoned. “It isn’t her strength that is making you fail. It is your weakness.” The rebuke hurt, but Kylo didn’t show it. “Where is the droid?”

Smooth and unctuous, the voice of General Hux rang out in the assembly hall before Kylo could respond. “Kylo believed it was no longer of value to us.”

Turning, the quietly livid younger man followed the approach of the increasingly confident officer.

“He believed that the girl was all we needed. That he could obtain from her everything necessary. As a result, although we cannot be certain, it is likely that the droid has been returned to the hands of the enemy.”

Though visibly angry, Snoke’s tone remained unchanged. “Have we located the main Resistance base?”

Hux was clearly gratified to be the bearer of good news. “We were able to track their reconnaissance ship back to the Ileenium system. We are coordinating with our own reconnaissance craft in the area in order to lock down the specific location of their base.”

Snoke replied with cold satisfaction. “We do not need it. Prepare the weapon. Destroy their system.”

Collected and composed as he was, Hux was not immune to surprise. “The system? Supreme Leader, according to the most recent galographics, at least two and possibly three habitable worlds circle Ileenium. Following the destruction of the Hosnian worlds, would it not be worthwhile simply to destroy their base and claim the remainder for the Order? We will have the location of the base within a matter of hours and -”

Snoke cut him off. “We cannot wait. Not even for hours. Hours that may permit as little as one ship to depart with the information that will allow them to find Skywalker. That would be one ship too many. The more time we give them, the more likely the chance, however slight, that they will find Skywalker and convince him to return to challenge our power. As soon as the weapon is fully charged, I want the entire Ileenium system destroyed.”

Daring to disagree, Kylo took a step forward. “No - Supreme Leader, I can get the map from the girl, I just need your guidance.”

“And you promised me when it came to destroying the Resistance, you wouldn’t fail me.” The threatening figure of Snoke leaned toward Kylo. “Who knows if copies of the map have already been made and sent out of the system, to other, minor Resistance outposts? But those who are most aware of its significance will all likely be gathered at their main base. Destroy that, destroy them, and we may at least feel a little more confident that the way to Skywalker is eradicated. Even if copies have been made and exported, the annihilation of their leadership will give pause to any survivors who might dare to contemplate further resistance to us.” He sat back. “For that reason alone I would order the destruction of the system, even if there was no assurance it would also put an end to this accursed map.” He turned to Hux.

“General, prepare your weapon. With the same efficiency you have already demonstrated.”

“Yes, Supreme Leader!”

Buoyed by the praise, Hux turned and strode quickly out of the hall. That left Snoke to fix his eyes on its sole remaining occupant.

“Kylo Ren. It appears that a reminder is in order. So I will show you the dark side. Bring the girl to me.”

*****

As he strode down the corridor where walls of exposed igneous rock alternated with panels and consoles of metal and spun synthetics, Kylo’s emotions were boiling. A great deal of his education had been devoted to learning how to live and move forward in the absence of emotion, but his present mental state contradicted all of his training. He could not help himself. He had reacted poorly to what had happened, and that had been reflected in the Supreme Leader’s judgement. To add to the discomfort, that slimy sycophant Hux always seemed to appear at the most inconvenient possible moment.

He gritted his teeth, angry at himself. It was a measure of his current weakness that something like jealousy toward an insignificant simpleton like Hux could even enter his mind. It was nothing but a waste of physical energy and mental concentration. Hux - Hux was not worthy of such attention.

The girl, on the other hand…

Entering the holding cell, Kylo was astonished to find it deserted. In the center of the room, the angled bench stood empty, its multiple curving restraints open and mocking beneath the subdued red illumination from the ceiling. A red film dropped over his vision as his blood, which was already simmering, began to boil and bubble over. Unable to control himself any longer, he pulled out his lightsaber, thumbed it to life and launched into a series of wild swings and strikes.

Blinded with rage, he did not even see the bits and pieces of red-hot debris that were flying all around him as he methodically reduced the room to rubble. As he worked, his thoughts went completely blank; finally there was nothing going on inside of his head. He existed purely inside of this moment. Across the hall, two stormtroopers quickly changed the direction they were going in as they heard the destruction.


	3. You need a teacher.

Han eyed him intently. "You sure you're up for this?"

"No," Finn told him. "But this whole gamble is my call, so taking care of it is my responsibility. I'll find Rey." He said it with so much confidence that Han was inclined to believe the ex-trooper just might pull it off. His expression tightened. "I just hope she's alive."

A movement caught Han's attention. Squinting, he broke out into a smile and pointed.

"Something tells me she is."

And there she was, climbing up an interior shaft wall directly toward them. Finn gaped in open astonishment, not quite able to accept what he was seeing.

It took her a moment before she recognized them and lowered her rifle. Her amazement at seeing them was no less than theirs had been when they had spotted her. Running to Finn, she threw herself into his arms. Neither could hug the other hard enough or long enough. The embracing pair finally separated, if only to look into each other's eyes.

"Are you all right?" a relieved Finn asked. "What happened?" His voice darkened. "Did he hurt you?"

"What are you doing here?" She asked, sidestepping his question.

He smiled softly. "We came back for you."

She tried to find something to say to that, something worthy of the sentiment and the risk they had undertaken. She failed miserably. Chewie, however, had something of his own to add. Whatever the Wookiee had uttered caused tears to well up in her eyes.

Having never found himself in such a position before, Finn was unsure how to respond. Knowing well her inner toughness, he wondered what Chewbacca had said that could have inspired such a reaction.

"What'd he say?" Finn asked.

She sniffed and wiped at her face. "That it was your idea."

If he had been unable to find the right words with which to respond before, her reply, combined with the look she gave him, reduced him to a state of temporary aphasia.

It was all very sweet and charming, Han mused as he observed the happy reunion. If only he could forget that they were stuck on a hostile world, in a First Order base, amid squads of roving stormtroopers who were inclined to shoot on sight. "We'll have a party later," he finally told them. "I'll bring the cake. Right now, let's get outta here."

*****

"Ben!" The shout echoed across the gap, reverberating throughout the vast open space below. On the far side, a tall figure turned and retraced his last few steps.

"Han Solo." Kylo Ren stared across at the older man. "I've been waiting for this day for a long time."

"Take off that mask." Han's tone was a mix of command and empathy. "You don't need it. Not here. Not with me."

"What do you think you'll see if I do take it off?"

Han moved forward slightly. "The face of my son."

"Your son is gone. He was weak and foolish, like his father." Kylo's reply was replete with pity. And anger. "So I destroyed him." Despite his words, Kylo reached up and slowly removed the mask.

For the first time Han saw the face of his son as a grown man—and it jolted him. Both men were so intent on each other, so preoccupied with their encounter, that neither noticed the newly arrived presence on a railing overhead. Having slipped inside to search for Han and Chewbacca, Finn and Rey found themselves peering down from up high at the pair confronting each other below.

"That's what Snoke wants you to believe," Han was saying. He wasn't pleading—just stating a fact. "But it's not true. My son is still alive. I'm looking at him right now."

The exchange drew another onlooker, as on a level above, Chewie moved to watch and listen. Kylo's eyes blazed. "No! The Supreme Leader is wise. He knows me for who I am, and who I can become. He knows you for what you really are, Han Solo. Not a general, not a hero. Just a small-time thief and smuggler."

A trace of a grin flashed across Han's face. "Well, he's got that part right."

Similarly drawn by the sounds of conversation and disagreement, a third group of spectators had arrived. Held rapt by the confrontation, the squad of stormtroopers looked on as intently as did Finn, Rey, and Chewbacca. Fearful of taking an initiative that might be frowned upon, they awaited a command from Kylo.

Stepping out onto the walkway, Han moved toward his son. There was no hesitation in his stride or in his voice. "Snoke's using you for your power, manipulating your abilities. When he's gotten everything he wants out of you, he'll crush you. Toss you aside. You know it's true. If you have half the ability, half the perception that I know you do, you know that I'm telling you the truth. Because unlike him, I have nothing to gain from it."

Kylo hesitated. "It's too late," he said after a moment.

"No, it's not." Halfway across the walkway now, Han continued to move forward, smiling. "Never too late for the truth. Leave here with me. Come home." Without the slightest trace of malice or deception, he cast a dagger. "Your mother misses you."

A strange sensation touched the younger man's cheeks. Something long forgotten. Dampness. Tears.

"I'm being torn apart. I want—I want to be free of this pain." His voice was tortured.

Han took another step, then stopped, waiting. A decision had to be made, and for once, it was not his to make.

"I know what I have to do, but I don't know if I have the strength to do it." Kylo moved out onto the walkway toward Han. "Will you help me?"

Up on the rampart, a feeling of unease and dread swept through Rey as she sensed Kylo's deception. She moved to stand up but Finn grabbed hold of her arm, pulling her back down. Holding her breath, she continued to watch the exchange helplessly.

"Yes," Han told him. "Anything."

Halting an arm's length from his father, Kylo unclipped his lightsaber, looked down at it for a moment, and then extended it toward Han. For an instant that seemed to extend into forever, nothing happened. Smiling, Han reached for the weapon. Then, as the light from outside was fully blocked by the flow of descending, accumulating dark energy, Kylo ignited the lightsaber—and the fiery red beam lanced outward to pierce Han's chest from front to back.

"Thank you," Kylo murmured, and truly, the darkness above was mimicked by the darkness in his voice.

Rey felt a shudder in the Force that lanced through her like a knife. The physical pain mingled with the emotional pain of losing the only father figure she had ever known. Beside her Finn was frozen, his face one of shock and disgust.

Accepting without quite believing, Han stared back into the face of the creature that had been his son. There was nothing to see there. Only darkness in the shape of a face: alien, unthinking, unfeeling. His knees buckled, the beam tilting down with him as he crumpled. Kylo extinguished it.

For another moment, Han held onto the edge of the walkway. A rush of memories flashed through his mind: worlds and time, friends and enemies, triumphs and failures. Words he wished he had spoken and others he regretted. All gone now, lost in an instant, like the one he would never again be able to hold in his arms. Then he fell, to vanish into the depths.

Stunned by his own actions, Kylo fell to his knees. Following through on the act ought to have made him stronger, a part of him believed. Instead, he found himself weakened. Feeling her presence, he looked upward, meeting Rey's horrified gaze.

For a single moment, they were connected. He could feel her emotions as strongly as he could feel his own - sorrow, despair, hatred, murderous rage. Some part of him was, once again, impressed with how volatile and dark her emotions were. So much potential, just waiting to be tapped into...

Rey, in turn, felt his emotions wrap around her like a vice. He was just as shocked as she was. It had been a split second decision. There was turmoil, he was upset that the dark side hadn't immediately rewarded his actions, and he was unsure of whether or not he had made the right choice. And buried deep down beneath it all, so deep that Rey could barely feel it, was a profound sadness.

He did not hear the roar of the enraged Wookiee above, but he did feel the sting of the shot from the bowcaster as it slammed into his side, knocking him back on the walkway.

Hostile fire being something the group of stormtroopers could react to without having to wait for an order, they immediately blasted back at Chewie. Returning fire, the Wookiee retreated down a corridor, hitting the switch on the remote detonator as he ran. First one charge ignited, then two, then four, and finally the rest. Enormous, concerted explosions rocked the interior of the hexagon. Walkways collapsed, plunging to the bottom of the interior cylinder. There was shuddering as the walls trembled, held—and then began to fail as their main support and then subsidiary columns snapped.

Amid the rising bedlam and confusion, Kylo struggled to stand. Rising to his full height, he started back along the still-standing walkway, moving with determination. Heading upward.

Taking their cue from their leader, those troopers who were not pursuing Chewbacca began to fire at Rey and Finn on the lower level. A crazed, heartbroken Rey returned their fire. She would have stayed there, blasting away wildly, had not Finn half dragged, half carried her away.

*****

Seeking a path through the snow, shadows, and increasingly dark forest, Finn finally slowed. Where were they running to? In any event, both he and Rey were out of breath. When he looked over at her, he knew the same realization had struck her. It was good, anyway, to stop. Even in the artificial darkness, in the shadow of the curtain of descending dark energy, the forest felt…clean. At least, it did until a singular figure came upon them and uttered a single word.

"Stop."

The three stood staring at one another: Finn, Rey and Kylo Ren, some ten meters away.

Finn was the first to react. Taking a step forward, he moved to shield Rey with his body in what was clearly a defensive position. The simple gesture was enough to enrage Kylo. Gritting his teeth, he flung his arm sideways in a single, powerful gesture—and Finn went flying, to smash into a nearby tree and slide to the ground, unconscious. Something heavy and made of metal flew out of his pocket, landing in the snow.

"FINN!" Rey screamed, starting towards him, but Kylo raised a hand, halting her. She strained against him, her anger giving her strength. But she couldn't move. He was struggling also, against her newly discovered ability, as well as the wound inflicted by Chewbacca's bowcaster.

As she stood there, paralyzed, she felt a… pull. Something was calling to her, some omniscient force. Turning to where Finn lay, her eyes settled on the device lying in the snow beside him. She recognized the lightsaber from the castle basement at once. She had vowed to never touch it again, but then again, she didn't exactly have another option.

Channeling every bit of strength she possessed, she called the weapon towards her. The lightsaber twitched and then began to vibrate as the Force called to it. As it rose from the ground, she ignited the beam in midair, and the luminescent blue color was enough to give him pause. He stared at the lightsaber for a moment before reacting. With Kylo distracted, Rey felt his hold on her weaken, and she was able to grab the handle of the lightsaber as it rocketed towards her.

"That weapon—is mine." He spoke through his teeth.

She all but snarled her reply. "Come and get it."

Without saying a word, he ignited his lightsaber and stalked towards her. The hum and glow of the gleaming red weapon was mesmerizing.

Unable to hold herself back, she charged forward, closing the distance between them in a few, short strides. Raising her lightsaber, she struck his so hard she felt the impact vibrate through her bones painfully. Shards of light flew, illuminating the snow and the surrounding vegetation. He blocked the hit with ease, not appearing in the slightest bit perturbed. Pulling her weapon back, she lunged again and again, while he parried her hits halfheartedly. He was toying with her, she realized with disgust. Just like he had in the forest.

She drew back slightly to catch her breath. He did not make a move towards her, waiting instead until she was ready. For some reason, this made her even angrier.

She resumed her assault with a vengeance while he considered his determined opponent. He was struck by how beautiful she looked when she was enraged. Her eyes were wild, reflecting the red and blue light of their weapons. The hatred and anger seeping out of her was palpable, igniting her delicate features with a power that made his breath catch.

As she continued to lunge and stab, he let her beam slide against his own and harmlessly off to one side, over and over again. Every once in a while he would counterattack gently, trying to build her confidence, trying to teach her how to move and position herself by way of example. It was to no avail, she was too consumed with rage to understand what he was trying show her. Her skill with the device was raw at best, but it was backed by a fury so powerful, he saw unlimited potential in her. When the beams of their lightsabers crossed, the resulting burst of energy lit an entire section of forest.

To an observer at a distance, it would have appeared as if a series of small explosions were going off in the depths of the forest. Blow after blow landed as lightsaber struck against lightsaber.

Suddenly there was a vast rumbling, as of a continent sighing, and a gigantic chunk of forest behind her simply collapsed downward, leaving her fighting on the edge of a cliff so high that the newly formed surface below could not be seen through the rising cloud of dust.

Sensing the newfound danger, he met her with his own weapon alight. Breathing hard, she looked up in disgust at the man looming above her.

"You need a teacher." He was beseeching and insistent all at once. "I can show you the ways of the Force!"

The Force? Rey thought, completely ignoring his offer. Suddenly she recalled her strange new abilities. Instead of moving to defend herself, she closed her eyes. Be with me, she meditated in a trance. Please, be with me.

He hesitated, confused by her actions. A long moment passed, in which he sensed a change in the air, a change in her. Then she opened her eyes and attacked, viciously, in a way she didn't know she was capable of, striking again and again as he was slowly driven back.

It was as if someone else was controlling her, she realized in some small recess of her mind. She watched as her body ducked, twirled, lunged, stabbed and performed clever footwork.

The flaring energy from the interacting lightsabers was more pronounced than ever in the flurry of her attack. And—Kylo went down. He was up again in an instant, but not in time to fully deflect a following blow from her weapon. He succeeded in blocking it, but he still took the full force of the strike against the haft of his own lightsaber. The weapon went flying into the snow.

Unarmed and caught off guard, he raised a hand and utilized the Force to fend off one slashing blow after another, until finally her fury penetrated his remaining defenses. Taking a glancing blow to the head and chest, he went down, a prominent burn slashed across his face.

In that moment, she felt herself regain control of her body. She saw her opportunity, perhaps her only chance, to get rid of him for good. One downward cut, one quick, final strike, and she could kill him. Do it. Some deep, dark part of herself thought. It was amorphous, unidentifiable, raw. Pure vengeful emotion. He murdered Han in cold blood, he's a monster. He deserves it.

"Do it." Kylo quietly dared her, echoing the voice inside her head. Their eyes locked, he was watching her intently. She could smell his cauterized flesh.

She hesitated, deliberating. It would be so easy, so quick. She raised her lightsaber above her head, it shook with her indecision.

Do it. 

She wanted to so badly. She grit her teeth, barely able to restrain herself against the compulsion. The weapon inched slightly downwards… she wasn't going to be able to stop herself… the thought crossed her mind just as the world began to horribly shake beneath her feet. She watched as the ground groaned and began to split, creating a gigantic rift between them. She could no longer reach him, the gorge that separated them was too large to cross. With her decision having been made for her, Rey turned away and ran back to where Finn lay badly wounded.

Dropping down beside his limp form, she huddled beside the unconscious Finn. Holding his unresponsive body in her arms, she started to cry. There were worse ways to die, she told herself, as the ground continued to shake and trees began to topple around them.

The glow that enveloped her and Finn did not come from the planetary core. It was too bright, too localized. Raising a hand to shield her eyes from the approaching glare, she squinted into the brilliant light. It took a moment to resolve itself into the scanning beams of a ship. A ship she recognized.

Rising from the vicinity of the new canyon that had appeared behind Rey in the course of her battle with Kylo Ren, the Millennium Falcon came toward them.

Considering the general conditions and the unstable surface, its pilot made a surprisingly smooth touchdown. She would have thrown herself into Chewie's arms had he not stopped immediately to pick up the limp body of Finn. In a few moments, they were beyond the atmosphere of the imploding planet. The jump to lightspeed was accomplished without incident, preventing them from observing the final cataclysm. Which was just as well. A moment after they fled, the Starkiller Base system became a binary.


	4. This is something else.

Rey stomped through the wet grass. It was quiet except for the squishing sound of damp earth beneath her feet. The misty wet swirled around her head, clinging to her hair. As she walked, she passed ferns, draping moss and a massive hemlock tree. Ahch-To was a small, damp green hole. It was the exact opposite of Jakku, which was known for its sprawling desert landscape, spiny vegetation and craggy hills.

What was the point of being one of the most powerful Jedi in existence if you were just going to exile yourself to some godforsaken planet like Ahch-To? Didn't Luke care about the fate of the galaxy at all?

She recalled the look in his eyes as she had offered him the lightsaber. His lightsaber. He had wanted nothing to do with it. After all the trouble she and everyone else had gone through to to find him, it had all been in vain. Luke Skywalker didn't care about the First Order, or about the Resistance, or about her. He was just another disappointment in the long line of disappointments that were here life.

She closed her eyes and raised her face to the sky, letting the cool droplets absorb into her skin. For a moment, everything seemed to stand still.

When she opened her eyes, she saw a tall, pale figure sitting quietly, with a dark bulbous shape hovering over him and touching his face. And it was almost as if she felt something pulling at her own cheek, tracing a line up from her jaw. Her eyes widened as she recognized Kylo Ren, his cheek bisected by an angry red line—the wound she had branded him with in the snows of Starkiller Base. Its upper reaches were still stitched shut with sutures. Kylo pushed the medbot away from him and they locked eyes. For several heartbeats, neither of them moved.

Then Rey reached for her blaster, raised it, and fired. She thought she saw him flinch as the blaster spat energy in his direction, the noise startlingly loud in the otherwise quiet sanctuary. But he wasn't there. She lowered the gun, her hand shaking slightly. There was no sign of her mortal enemy—the dark, menacing figure that had frozen her on Takodana and spirited her off to Starkiller Base, where he'd killed Han Solo and nearly killed Finn. But she knew she hadn't imagined it—he'd been right there… hadn't he?

She wondered if she was starting to lose her mind. Perhaps all of the jumps to lightspeed were beginning to wear on her... She inhaled deeply while rubbing her temples. The smell of wet earth tickled her nostrils.

And then, instantly, he was there again, as if he had materialized out of thin air. And this time, she knew he could see her, too. He lifted his hand, staring at her, and she could hear him.

"You will bring Luke Skywalker to me," he said. His voice had a dreamy cadence to it, as if he were speaking underwater. But unlike on Starkiller Base, no invisible fingers burrowed into her brain to root through her thoughts and secrets, and unlike on Takodana, her body responded to her commands, not his. They were just words, and held no power over her. She smirked, and he lowered his hand awkwardly.

"You're not doing this. The effort would kill you." He peered at her, curious now. "Can you see my surroundings?" He sounded like a student contemplating an interesting problem—and expecting her to work as his partner to solve it. That infuriated her.

"You're going to pay for what you did!" she spat, but he ignored her.

"I can't see yours—just you. So no. This is something else."

"Rey?" A gravelly voice called out.

She turned to see Luke walking towards her. Panic accelerated her heartbeat. Why now? She wondered frantically. The Jedi Master had wanted nothing to do with her earlier, why did he have to come looking for her now?

Would Kylo see Luke? Would he somehow know where the last of the Jedi was? Had she done something wrong, unlocked some gate that had desperately needed to stay shut?

When she turned back around, Kylo's expression told her instantly that while he might not have seen Luke, he had seen her reaction—and understood what it meant.

"Rey, you can't trust him. He's dangerous." He didn't have to say Luke's name for her to know who he was referring to. She was surprised to see a look of genuine concern on his face.

"What's this about?" asked Luke, approaching her.

Her eyes returned to the Jedi Master's face, expecting to see anger and betrayal there, but he just looked puzzled—until, to her horror, he pointed past her, directly at where Kylo was standing. She forced herself to follow his gaze, but Kylo was gone. Luke was pointing in the direction she had fired her blaster. He must have heard her and come to investigate. Relief washed through her. If Luke caught her fraternizing with the enemy, there would be no way she could convince him to train her...

*****

That night Rey lay in her cot, unable to sleep. She was still shaken by the manifestation of Kylo Ren. At first, she had been certain that somehow he had found her. But then it quickly became apparent that he had been just as confused as she was. So, how exactly had they been able to communicate with one another from light years away? Not as holograms, but as if they were actually in the same room…

As if that mystery weren't enough to keep her up, Kylo's words kept repeating themselves over and over in her head. "You can't trust him. He's dangerous." She told herself that he was just trying to drive a wedge between her and the Jedi Master, in an attempt to sabotage her training before it even began. But deep down, a smaller part of her couldn't shake the feeling that he was being… sincere.

For some strange reason, ever since she had seen inside his mind, it was like she could feel what he was feeling. And when he had told her that Luke was dangerous, she had felt his concern, his sincerity.

And then there were the usual thoughts that kept her up at night, fears she had clung to for over a decade. Her desperate certainty that her abandonment on Jakku had been a mistake, or a grim necessity that would be put right by her lost family, if only she waited long enough and patiently enough. Her terror and despair that she was deluding herself, and would spend her days in solitude, ending up as anonymous bones in the sand. Her dreams of an island amid a trackless ocean —the very island on which she now found herself.

And now, her deepest fears and most secretive dreams were not even her own anymore. After he'd immobilized her on Takodana and taken her to Starkiller Base to pry her memory of the map to Luke out of her head, he had probed her thoughts, sifting and sorting, and seen much that she would have kept hidden from him, and anyone else. He had rummaged through her hopes and fears, things he had no right to. The violation stung, a visceral feeling in the pit of her stomach.

But as he searched, something had changed. As he rifled through her mind, he had somehow revealed his own. She found herself in his mind even as he invaded hers. She felt his rage, like a ruinous storm that filled his head, and his hatred, and his lust to dominate and humiliate those who had wronged him.

But she also felt his hurt, and his loneliness. And his fear—that he would never prove as strong as Darth Vader, the ghost who haunted his dreams. He had retreated at finding her in his head —had practically fled from her. But that had not been the end of the strange, sudden connection. She had seen more —far more.

Somehow, almost instinctually, she knew how he accessed some of the powers at his command—even though she didn't understand them. It was as if his training had become hers, unlocking and flinging open door after door in her mind. But now she couldn't shut those doors—and she feared what had been set loose. Kylo had urged her to let him be her teacher—had pleaded with her, almost. And she had rejected him—only to be rejected, in turn, by Luke.

As the night wore on, the jumbled thoughts turned and turned in her head, with no end in sight.


	5. You're not alone.

Several days had passed since her force-vision, she didn’t know what else to call it, with Kylo Ren. During that time, Rey had somehow managed to convince Luke, albeit begrudgingly, to train her in the ways of the Force. The pair were currently sat atop a ledge, overlooking the lush, green island. It was a dizzying vantage point, but neither master nor student harbored a fear of heights.

Rey was in the process of reaching out, as Luke had instructed. A dozen vivid, hallucinatory images had passed through her mind's eye: there was life all around her, from the Caretakers pottering around near their huts to the birds, insects, fish, plants and trees, but there was also death and decay, dead flesh and vegetable matter, sinking into the soil to make way for new life; there was warmth, the rays from the sun heating her face, the rocks below, even the surface of the water, and there was cold, too, which surrounded the dark places where the roots of the island and the seafloor were revealed as one and the same; there was peace, mother porgs with their eggs, sheltered and safe, but there was also violence, that left behind broken nests and shattered shells. Together, they created a balance - a Force.

“And inside you?” Luke asked, prompting.

“Inside me, that same Force.” Rey replied, almost giddy. As she continued to extend her consciousness even further, she became aware of a new presence calling to her awakened senses. “But, there’s something else.” She could see rocky flats by the sea, ominous and cold, with a dark hole in the rock.

“Beneath the island. A place - a dark place.”

“Balance,” Luke said, and there was a twinge of concern in his voice. “Powerful light, powerful darkness.”

“It’s cold.” She whispered, as something icy wrapped around her. If she strained, she could hear a thousand whispering voices.

Rey… Submit to us, Rey… in return… your every desire... will be granted…

She saw a vision of her parents, they were… and then vision vanished.

“It’s calling me.” She said, her voice frustrated.

The ledge trembled beneath them as bits of rock began to crack and fall from the cliffs around them.

“Resist it,” Luke urged her. “Rey? REY!” He was standing in front of her now, shouting as loudly as he could.

Dimly, Rey heard his voice calling her name. But it faded away to nothing, until all she could hear was the roaring water. She was standing on the cold, rocky shore, moving as if hypnotized toward a black hole before her—the source of that roar. The sound built, reaching a crescendo as water shot out of the rock...

With a start, Rey found herself on the ledge. Luke was drawing back his hand. He had slapped her, she realized. Gasping for breath, she felt like she’d been dragged out of deep water. Her face was drenched. At first she thought it was her imagination, but her hair was dripping down her back, and she could taste the saltwater on her tongue. The Jedi Master’s eyes were wary—and fixed on her.

“You went straight to the dark,” he accused.

“That place can show me something,” Rey managed to explain. “It was trying to.”

“It offered you something you needed and you didn’t even try to stop yourself.” Luke glared at her, his face pale and drawn. “I’ve seen this raw strength only once before, in Ben Solo.”

Rey shrank back from what she saw in his gaze, and suddenly Kylo’s warning echoed in her thoughts. You can’t trust him. He’s dangerous.

Luke turned his back on her and walked away, into the darkness of the ancient temple.

Rey watched the Jedi leave, feeling utterly defeated. It wasn’t her fault the dark side called out to her… or was it? Was she leaving a wall down that was supposed to be left up? And deeper down, a quieter part of her couldn’t help but wonder, could the dark side really help her find her parents?

Just as quickly as the thought had surfaced, she pushed it away, embarrassed.

Something tickled at her awareness and she turned to stare out at the gray sea, already dreading what she knew she would see.

Kylo Ren was staring at her.

She groaned internally, hoping he wouldn’t see how weak she felt.

“Why is the Force connecting us?” He asked curiously. “You and I?”

“Murderous snake,” She nearly shouted, hoping that the false bravado would disguise how she felt.

He came closer and she wondered what would happen if she refused to move and they intersected. Would she find herself in his mind again, and have to endure his presence in hers? Could they actually touch across a galaxy?

“You aren’t really here—you can’t touch me,” she said. “I’m safe.”

“For someone who’s safe, you’re awfully afraid,” He replied quietly. He looked down at her, his eyes dark in his pale face. She didn’t like the way he was looking at her, as if he were equal parts amused and fascinated.

“You’re too late,” she said harshly. “You lost. I found Skywalker.”

“How’s that going?” He asked, a trace of humour in his voice. With a pang, she realized that he could see right through her. Her face had always been an open book, unlike is. Then his eyes flashed. “Has he told you what happened, the night I destroyed his temple? Has he told you why?”

“I know everything I need to know about you,” she countered, taken aback.

“You do?” he asked, and peered at her, his eyes intent. “Ah, you do. You have that look in your eyes. From the forest. When you called me a monster.”

“You are a monster,” She said, remembering the terror of her paralysis on Takodana.

He took a step closer. If she reached her hand out, she would be able to touch him. As she stared back at him, she found his eyes full of hurt and conflict.

“Yes, I am,” He finally said, and there was no menace in his voice—only misery.

And then he was gone, leaving her watching the waves breaking on the shore. She stared into the heaving sea, not sure what she was searching for.

*****

Rey walked alone across the meadow atop the island. Above her the full moon shone brightly, bathing everything in a dim, luminescent glow. Her eyes wandered to the outcropping of the Jedi temple, a pale spike against the night, atop the winding thread of the stone stairs. She supposed it was the last time she’d ever see it. The last time she’d walk through this grassy saddle. The last time she’d admire the craftsmanship of the cluster of ancient huts.

It made her a little sad, but she realized what upset her the most was the memory of what she’d hoped to find on the island, but hadn’t. Such as a teacher—or a reason to hope. Both had eluded her, and now she would have to explain that to General Organa. Leia had lost so much, and Rey would add to her burdens. By telling her…what, exactly?

Her musings were interrupted when she felt a familiar presence, like a change in the weather behind her. Gooseflesh broke out on her arms. “I’d rather not do this now,” she said, without turning.

“Yeah, me too,” he replied.

Steeling herself, she turned, determined not to let her adversary into her head. This time, she would make him answer for what he’d done. “Why did you hate your father?” she demanded, then stopped.

He was stripped to the waist in his chambers. The angry scar she’d given him in their duel snaked down his face and neck, disappearing into his bare chest, which was chiseled to perfection.

She quickly dropped her gaze, her cheeks growing hot. She thanked her lucky stars that it was dark outside.

“Because he was a weak-minded fool,” he replied. If he noticed her awkwardness at his state of undress, he did not show it. She forced herself to look into his eyes—those angry, haunted, needy eyes.

“I don’t believe you,” she said. “Give me an honest answer.”

“I will when you ask an honest question,” He said, and she wanted to scream at him.

“Why did you hate Han Solo?” she tried again.

“No.” He said dismissively, almost bored. But she wouldn’t let him escape so easily.

“You had a father who loved you. He gave a damn about you.”

“I didn’t hate him.”

“Then why?” She demanded.

“Why what?” He asked, staring at her intently. When she was silent, he repeated his question, his tone harsher than before. “Why what? Say it!”

“Why did you…” She began, but found herself choking on her words. “Why did you kill him? I don’t understand.” A single tear slid down her cheek as she remembered Kylo driving his lightsaber into his father’s heart.

“No?” Kylo’s curiosity was genuine—and infuriating. “Your parents threw you away like garbage.” It was like he’d kicked her in the stomach. She took a step backwards instinctively, recoiling from the pain of his words.

“They didn’t." She argued feebly, and she hated the fact that even to her own ears she sounded like she was pleading. The strange contact between their minds had given her insight into his powers, and had helped unleash her own. It had also let him pillage her memories and feelings. But there was no way the Force could have told him that, shown him that…

“They did,” He continued relentlessly. “But still you can’t stop needing them. It’s your greatest weakness. Looking for them everywhere—in Han Solo, now in Skywalker.” His gaze was hungry—and knowing. “Did he tell you what happened that night?”

“Yes,” She said, knowing he could see that it wasn’t true.

“No,” he corrected, at the same time a vision filled her head.

— Ben Solo—no longer a boy but not yet a man—looks up in surprise and alarm. His uncle Luke has come into his chambers, at night, and now stands over him. The Jedi Master’s face is twisted in a snarl—and lit by the green blade of his lightsaber. The Force is boiling with danger. For a moment regret shadows Luke’s face, but Ben can see his uncle has gone too far to turn back. He will not falter or hesitate; rather, he will bring his lightsaber down and cleave his nephew in two while he sleeps.

Desperate, Ben’s hand reaches out, not toward Luke but beyond him, to the lightsaber he has constructed. Willing it into his hand, its blue blade blocks the killing blow. The locked blades buzz and spark. But Ben knows this is only a brief reprieve—he can’t resist his Master’s far greater powers for long. Trapped, he reaches up toward the ceiling with his free hand, begging the stones to heed his plea and come crashing down on Luke’s head. To save him. —

“He had sensed my power, as he senses yours,” Kylo said. “And he feared it.”

“Liar.” Rey said, but there was no conviction behind it. She could feel that what Kylo had told her was true—or at least, he wasn’t trying to mislead her. And hadn’t she sensed Luke’s guilt and self-reproach? What if he had gone into exile not because of what the apprentice had done to the teacher, but because of what the teacher had done to the apprentice?

“Let the past die,” Kylo said, coming towards her. “Kill it, if you have to. That’s the only way to become what you are meant to be.” And then he was gone, leaving her alone in the night.

*****

Rey stood on a long, flat outcropping of stone that emerged from the grassy slopes of the island to end in a low cliff above the sea. In the center of the stone was a gaping hole in the rock, surrounded by reddish moss bleached gray by the moonlight.

She carefully approached the place she’d seen in her vision on the meditation ledge, the one that had been trying to show her something. Luke had warned her that accepting its offer would be yielding to the dark side, but perhaps that was because he feared the truths it might reveal.

She stared into the inky darkness of the hole. Bright as the moon was, it revealed nothing about what was below. The hole burbled and hissed, as if it were speaking to her. She stopped at the edge, stooping to examine the moss, and slipped. Slipped, or was dragged inside.

She cried out as she fell into water. Breaking the calm surface, she was thrust to the bottom of the icy blackness, unable to see or hear anything. The cold was like a knife in her lungs, paralyzing her. Struggling, she kicked wildly with her feet, praying that she was headed in the right direction and not swimming further down.

After several long seconds she surfaced, and gasped. The saltwater stung her eyes, making it hard to see. Using her sense of touch, she hauled herself out of the water onto a slick, flat stone.

When she could finally see again, she saw that she was in a cave—a long, narrow space that the sea had carved away beneath the lip of the cliff, creating a hidden place beneath the island, its existence revealed only by a blowhole where a vertical shaft had intersected the surface. The hole spat gouts of water at high tide but seemed to breathe when the tide was low, as it was now.

Before her, the sea had ground and polished the walls of the cave until the stone was like a dark mirror, cracked but glossy. Rey could see her reflection in it—a reflection repeated a thousand times in the stone’s labyrinthine facets, so they created a line of Reys retreating from her gaze.

She gazed into the mirror—and realized it was gazing back. The Force was quavering in response to the approach of something. She could hear herself breathing—slowly and raggedly. Then her breathing quickened as she realized she was inside the stone, within the mirror world, with several Reys between her and the soaked, shivering girl standing on the ledge in the cave.

Then that Rey was gone and a hundred Reys stood between her and the slim figure on the ledge. She turned her head and all those Reys obediently did the same, each one’s turn coming a moment after the one before it, until all were staring along with her deeper into the dark stone.

Rey knew she had to go deeper—that the world inside the stone was leading her somewhere, and if she only had the courage to follow, that secret place would show her what she had come to see—and what she was most afraid to know.

There were Reys deeper in the stone, part of the line ahead of her. She told herself to follow them, to become them, to ignore the voice in her head that kept babbling that she would be trapped forever, down here in the darkness at the secret heart of the island.

She followed the line of Reys, willing the surreal succession to end, until finally it did. Until at last there was one final Rey, breathing hard and staring at a large, round, clouded mirror of polished stone like the one that had called to the girl in the cave. This last Rey stood in front of the stone, gazing into its depths.

“Let me see my parents,” she begged. “Please.” She stretched out her hand and the clouded surface of the mirror seemed to ripple, its darkness melting away. She saw two dark figures beneath its surface. As her heartbeat hammered in her ears, the two became one. Her fingers touched the stone and met the fingertips of another. It was the girl from the sea cave, staring back at her. It was herself.

She realized with a sickening feeling what the island was showing her. In every single dimension, plane and universe that some form of her existed in, she was alone. Utterly and devastatingly alone. And she always would be. Her parents weren’t coming back for her, they had never intended to.

And she realized something else: the dark side had lied to her. It couldn't show her anything that she didn't already know.

She screamed, a loud and piercing shriek that ignited the small cave with thousands of similar haunting echoes. Raising her hand, she punched the mirror with all her might. Immediately the glass cut deep slashes into her knuckles and the wound began to bleed. Rivulets of blood flowed down her arm, staining the sleeve of her shirt. The cut stung, but she barely noticed the pain. Pulling her hand back, she went to hit the mirror again, but something grabbed her arm, holding her in place.

She turned to find Kylo standing behind her. Her mouth dropped open in shock. She could feel his touch, as if he were actually in the cave beside her. For once, his face was devoid of the smug superiority which she had grown so accustomed to seeing. Instead, he was staring down at her with a tenderness in his eyes that broke her heart and shattered it in a million tiny pieces.

“Let go of me.” She tried to pull away, but he refused to let go. Instead he pulled her closer to him, until they were awkwardly hugging - her trying to wiggle out of his grasp, and him only clutching her tighter, until eventually, she stopped trying to get away. Because he was so much taller than her, her face was pressed against his chest, his chin resting on the top of her head. He was so large compared to her small frame that he completely dwarfed her, enveloping her on all sides.

And in that moment, she didn’t care that he was her mortal enemy. She didn’t care that he had killed Han or that he was on the dark side, that he was determined to light a match and watch the world burn. Because he was the only one could understand how she felt. And because she was too weak to be angry with him in that moment. And because, standing there, in his arms, soaking wet with blood running down her arm, she felt… whole. She would hate herself in the morning, if morning ever came.

“I need to sit.” She said after a minute, while simultaneously staggering towards the ground. Catching her, he lowered her down, until he was sitting cross-legged and she was cradled in his arms like a small child.

Wordlessly he reached for her bloodied knuckles and ran his fingers over them, healing them as he went. When he released her hand, there was no evidence that she had ever punched the mirror.

“How did you?” She asked, looking from her hand to him and back again.

“There are all sorts of cool tricks I could show you, if you’d just let me.”

She contemplated that for a moment, and then let the subject drop. Rummaging through her head, she settled for another one that had been keeping her up at night.

“Why do I feel this connection to you?”

“I’ll tell you when you’re ready.”

“I’m ready now.”

“Are you?” He asked, and she followed his gaze to the shattered mirror. Glass shards covered in her blood littered the cave floor.

“You were right. My parents did throw me away like garbage.” Her voice was barely above a whisper.

“Is that what you saw?”

“I know it’s true. I was holding out hope, but now I see how stupid that was. How stupid it was to think that I wasn’t alone.” Her voice broke pathetically.

“You’re not alone.” He gripped her tighter, as if to convey his meaning.

She looked up at him, her eyes going to the scar on his face. After hesitating briefly, she reached her hand towards it, her index finger tracing the line delicately. The wound did not heal as hers had, but something else happened instead.

She watched as a vision filled her head. They were surrounded by water, waves taller than houses crashing all around them. Kylo was there, only, he wasn’t Kylo anymore, he was Ben. She could tell by the smile on his face, and because he looked years younger. She pulled her hand away, wondering if he had seen it too.

When she peeked up at him, she thought she could detect a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“Neither are you. It isn’t too late.”

Although he didn’t reply, Rey couldn’t stop replaying the vision over and over again in her head. Kylo Ren would turn to the light side. And she would be the one to turn him.


	6. Join Me

Kylo Ren knew who was in the escape pod even before it opened with a hiss of vapor—her presence had been a steady pulse from the Force the moment his father’s junk-heap freighter once again somehow heaved itself out of hyperspace without disintegrating.

The stormtroopers behind him stood ready, awaiting his command. Peering down into the pods tight confines, their eyes locked. Rey stared up at him with a look of naive hope and wonder, while he looked down on her with a slight frown. She felt her heart shudder and stop, a cold feeling of dread wrapping itself around her. She had made a terrible, terrible mistake.

“I’ll take that,” he said, referring to the lightsaber clutched tightly in her hands. “It belongs to me.”

Despite knowing that she was outnumbered, she held the lightsaber appraisingly for a moment.

“Strange, then, that it called to me at the castle,” she said, studying the ancient weapon almost idly before returning her icy gaze to him. “And not to you.”

The corner of his mouth twitched in the beginning of a smile, and he inclined his head at the soldiers filling the hangar. “You’re in no position to argue.”

She held the hilt out to him, as if daring him to take it. The stormtroopers shifted uneasily. He frowned, then reached out, his face momentarily uncertain. The slightest tremor disturbed his black-gloved fingers as he reached out for the weapon sitting motionless in her steady hand. He snatched it away and gestured curtly for a First Order officer to approach with binders.

“That isn’t necessary,” she said, as she climbed out of the pod and allowed the officer to handcuff her.

“It is,” He replied, hustling her into the depths of the massive flagship. “We have an appointment.”

She quickened her pace to match his long strides, not wanting to be seen scurrying to keep up. Behind them, the accompanying stormtroopers’ armor rattled. She could feel their anxiety about a situation they couldn’t fit into one of their training regimens. That anxiety was shot through with fear—not of her but of the mercurial, unpredictable Kylo. She didn’t blame them—his turmoil all but filled the Force around them, roiling and churning it. The troopers couldn’t sense it the way Kylo and her could, but that wasn’t the same as saying they couldn’t sense it all—they were part of life and the Force, and couldn’t help but be affected on some level.

He stopped at a lone turbolift ringed by stormtroopers and dismissed the guards. Stepping inside, the doors shut and left them alone.

She turned to face him, the pain she felt inside twisting her beautiful features.

He was still contemplating the lightsaber in his hands, avoiding her gaze.

“You don’t have to do this.”

“I do.”

Fury spiked through her - hot and fast. She understood now why he had held in the cave that night. It all suddenly made perfect sense. He hadn’t done it because he cared for her. He had just been manipulating her. He had put the vision of a redeemed Ben Solo in her head. It had all been a trap. An elaborate lie, designed to get her to deliver herself to the First Order. And it had worked. He had preyed on her weakness and vulnerability. In her darkest hour, he had used her. The devastation that she felt was so all consuming, it took everything she had not to cry out. To drop to the floor and wail as long and as loudly as she could, until her voice grew so hoarse she’d never be able to use it again.

Sensing the turbulent violence of her emotions, Kylo shifted his weight, as if trying to block out what he knew she was feeling. On top of her raw hurt, she could sense that his emotions were resolute. He was firm in his decision to betray her, she could not detect even a hint of wavering. She did not know it was possible for him to cut her any deeper than he already had, but somehow, this realization twisted and broke what tiny piece was left of her heart. Her eyes closed, and when she opened them again, she was no longer the same girl he had held in that cave.

The turbolift doors opened with a hiss and Kylo led Rey into the throne room, where the Supreme Leader of the First Order awaited them on his throne. His faceless, crimson-armored guards stood on either side of the throne, bladed weapons ready. Snoke himself was almost slouching—indolent in his golden robes, secure in the safety of his sanctum. But his eyes were piercing and hungry. Rey tried to avoid them, but his gaze was like a lodestone, dragging her attention involuntarily to him. Their pull was akin to what she’d felt near the pit on Ahch-To—whispering of secrets that had been reserved for her, that belonged to her. Ancient, hidden knowledge that would destroy the weak but elevate the strong. The worthy.

Snoke grinned hungrily at her and she found she couldn’t look away until the Supreme Leader fixed those dreadful, bottomless eyes on Kylo instead.

“Well done, my good and faithful apprentice,” he said, the voice deep and slow. “My faith in you is restored.” Then his gaze pinned her once again. “Young Rey. Welcome.”

Interpreting visions of the future was a dangerous game. Whether Jedi, Sith, or some other sectless celebrated by history, all those who used the Force to explore possible timelines kept that uppermost in their minds. Those who didn’t died regretting that they hadn’t. Snoke had learned that lesson many years ago, when he was young and the galaxy was very different. These days, what struck him was how much visions of the future left out. For example, who would have guessed that the girl Rey would be so slim and fragile-looking? She looked lost in the throne room, dwarfed by both her surroundings and the galaxy-shaking events for which she was the unlikely and unwitting fulcrum.

But Snoke knew appearances were often deceiving—sometimes fatally so. Underestimating Rey had nearly cost Kylo Ren his life, after all. Snoke knew better. For he had his own legions of uncounted dead, their ranks filled by those who had underestimated him.

Snoke waved and Rey’s binders parted and clattered to the floor—a trivial demonstration of the Force. He noted approvingly that it no longer awed her.

“Come closer, child,” he said. She refused him and Snoke reached out with the Force, whose power had grown stronger even as his body had withered. To his delight he found Rey strong—even more powerful than he’d imagined. Strong with the Force, and with the kind of towering will that made her able to command it. She would have made a fitting instrument for Snoke—if he’d still had need of such crude tools.

“So much strength,” Snoke said, savoring the currents of power in the room and the chaos of their collisions. “Darkness rises, and light to meet it. I warned my young apprentice that as he grew stronger, his equal in the light would rise.”

Another seemingly offhand gesture and Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber ripped itself free of Kylo’s grasp, tumbling past Rey to smack into Snoke’s hand. He turned the weapon gently, admiring both the skill of its construction and the power coiled within it. To Snoke’s eyes, the weapon’s very form revealed the Jedi lineage behind its creation, a string of once mighty names that no longer had any meaning.

“Skywalker, I assumed,” he said. “Wrongly.” He set the lightsaber down on the throne’s armrest and pinned Rey with his gaze. “Closer, I said.” She resisted him again, but this time Snoke didn’t limit himself to testing her defenses. He used the Force to compel her body, yanking her centimeter by slow, unwilling centimeter toward him across the polished floor.

Rey tried to resist, commanding her feet to remain planted on the floor of Snoke’s throne room, but it was hopeless—she was pulled closer and closer to the Supreme Leader. As on Takodana, with Kylo Ren, she found that both her mind and body had been invaded and overwhelmed. The feeling sickened her—her stomach wanted to revolt, as if Snoke were a physical malady it could purge.

“You underestimate the Resistance,” she warned the gaunt, robed figure, her voice strained by trying to keep her distance. “It will be your downfall.”

Snoke’s eyes glittered with feral amusement. Few things were more entertaining than an opponent who mistook a little bit of knowledge for the entire picture. Their downfalls were so much more satisfying.

Snoke dragged her to his throne, her face paralyzed just centimeters from his own. Holding Rey pinned there, Snoke considered Kylo. He had seen his apprentice’s enormous potential when he was still a child—the latent power of the Skywalker bloodline was impossible to miss. And he had also seen how to exploit the boy’s feelings of inadequacy and abandonment, and his mother’s guilt and desperation to contain the darkness within her child.

And indeed, Ben Solo had performed the role Snoke had envisioned for him perfectly. The combination of his potential and the danger he posed had lured Skywalker into seeking to rebuild the Jedi. His power had then destroyed all Skywalker had built and sent the failed Jedi Master into exile, removing him from the board just as the game entered a critical phase. But what role the boy would play in the future was less clear. He called himself Kylo Ren, but as with so much else about him, that was more wish fulfillment than reality. He had never escaped being Ben Solo, or learned to resist the pull of the weak and pathetic light, or had the strength to excise the sentimental streak that had destroyed his legendary grandfather.

And then there was his most glaring failure of all: his inability or unwillingness to use his power to redirect the course of his own destiny. Snoke had once seen Kylo as the perfect student—a creation of both dark and light, with the strength of both sides of the Force. But perhaps he had been wrong about that. Perhaps Kylo was an unstable combination of those sides’ weaknesses—a flawed vessel that could never be filled. Snoke pushed the thought away. There would be time to consider Kylo’s fate later, after the Resistance and the last Jedi had been destroyed. And both of those goals were now at hand.

Snoke turned his attention back to Rey, still gamely struggling to fight something she had no hope of contending with, let alone defeating. It was a pity about the girl, whose unexpectedly strong powers intrigued him. But her role in the story was just about over. She had one final service to perform, after which she could be discarded.

“And now you will give me Skywalker,” he told her. “And then I will kill you with the cruelest stroke.”

He saw horror in her eyes—followed by stubborn defiance.

“No!” she managed.

“Yes!” Snoke replied, exultant. He raised his hand and hurled her across the room with the Force, then held her in the air as he smashed aside her resistance and began rifling through her thoughts, her memories, making them his to do with as he would.

The skin at Rey’s temples pulsed in waves, a physical manifestation of the violent intrusion into her mind. She realized now that Kylo had actually been exceedingly gentle in his mental invasion of her, as the pain she had felt during it was nothing in comparison to how she felt now.

“Give me everything,” Snoke commanded. The very air between them bent and wavered as Snoke harnessed the Force and made it his weapon. Rey thrashed in pain, screaming and seeking an escape that didn’t exist. Kylo could feel Rey’s pain and panic, a bright roar in the Force that overwhelmed all else—even the dark presence of Snoke. And although it nearly killed him, he did not intervene.

Rey could feel Snoke in her head, his consciousness a live, hungry thing, carelessly sifting and sorting through what wasn’t his, what he had no right to. She was unable to push back against him—his mere presence threatened to overwhelm her. And unlike with Kylo, she had no sense of that mind being left open to her. Snoke’s presence felt like a pit, empty and cold and dark—as if the dark-side cave beneath Ahch-To had gone on forever.

Random bits of memory came back to her as the Supreme Leader scrutinized them and cast them aside. Here she was, alone at sunset on Jakku. Waking from a dream of a cool island in a gray sea. Stunned and reeling beneath Maz’s castle. Holding a lightsaber hilt out in mute appeal. She felt his interest quicken at that last moment burned into her mind. That was what he wanted: Skywalker’s island, and the planet of which it was a part, and what it was called and how she had reached it.

She tried to blank her mind, to shut him out, to fight him off. None of it worked. Snoke found what he wanted, took it, and discarded her. She found herself on the floor of his throne room, writhing in pain, consumed by hatred for him. He just laughed at her. “Well, well,” he said, voice oozing satisfaction. “I did not expect Skywalker to be so wise. We will give him and the Jedi Order the death he longs for. After the rebels are gone we will go to his planet and obliterate the entire island.”

She raised her hand toward Luke’s lightsaber, sitting next to Snoke on the arm of his throne. She willed it into her hand—and it flew into the air, in a perfect arc that would end in her grasp. Watching Rey struggle against him, Snoke smiled. Calling a lightsaber into one’s hand was such a trivial use of the Force—a trick for the greenest apprentice, its workings almost beneath the dignity of a master of the Force. Nevertheless, he admired the girl’s resolve. She was beaten but persisted. Such hubris would have to be punished. Snoke twisted his fingers, altering the weapon’s path so that it smacked Rey in the back of the head, nearly knocking her unconscious—then spun and continued back to its place beside him.

“Such spunk,” he said, feeling the hatred swelling in her and savoring it. It was too bad, really. The girl’s power could have been catalyzed by hatred and fear, forging her into a potent weapon. In another era, she would have made someone a superb apprentice.

“Look here now,” he said, summoning the Force to drag Rey across the room. The red curtains of the throne room parted, revealing a curved bank of viewports. Before one of them was a lens-like oculus. Forced to stare into it, Rey saw the Resistance fleet had been reduced to one warship and a collection of small transports. The smaller ships were exploding, erased one after another by the First Order’s guns.

“The entire Resistance is on those transports,” Snoke said. “Soon they will all be gone. For you, all is lost.”

Rey turned from the window, teeth bared. Her eyes burned like fire. Oh yes. Such power. A pity, really.

“And still that fiery spit of hope,” Snoke said mockingly. Rey’s hand reached out again, fingers splayed, and Snoke could feel the Force in motion around him. This time, her target wasn’t Skywalker’s weapon—but Kylo Ren’s. This unexpected, desperate act caught Snoke’s apprentice by surprise. His lightsaber flew off his belt and across the room, the Praetorians tensing at its flight, to land in Rey’s hand. She ignited it, the crimson blade a snarl of energy, the crossguard energy channels sputtering to life a moment later, and ran at Snoke.

The guards sprang forward, blades raised, but Snoke stopped them with a raised hand, chuckling at the sight of Rey, face bathed in the red light of the unstable blade. “You have the spirit of a true Jedi,” he told her—then used the Force to fling her across the floor. She landed hard, groaning, and the lightsaber clattered and spun across the floor to land at Kylo’s feet, spinning like a top. “And because of that you must die,” Snoke said, turning his cobalt-blue eyes to Kylo.

His apprentice had barely moved since delivering Rey. His emotions, which were usually so tumultuous, had been replaced by an eerie calm and focus. Snoke had been surprised, but pleased. Kylo—that endlessly conflicted mixture of light and dark—had finally found himself.

“My worthy apprentice, son of darkness, heir apparent to Lord Vader,” Snoke said, knowing how Kylo had yearned for such praise. “Where there was conflict, I now sense resolve. Where there was weakness, strength. Complete your training and fulfill your destiny.”

Kylo rose, his unlit lightsaber in one hand and the other hand held carelessly behind his back. Step by step, he advanced on the helpless Rey. Snoke used the Force to hoist her to her knees and pin her arms behind her back. He eyed Kylo, wary of some new retreat into sentiment, into the weakness that had held him back for so long. But Kylo’s face was cold, and his eyes were determined.

She regarded him with an icy stare. She would not beg or show weakness in her final moments. But she would force him to look into her eyes as he killed her. It was the least he could do.

Kylo stopped once Rey was within reach of his blade. “I know what I have to do,” he said, his voice emotionless. Snoke laughed. By eliminating Rey, Kylo would be excising the flawed, hesitant, weak half of himself for good.

The Supreme Leader closed his eyes. This was a drama best appreciated through the Force, not the crude approximation offered by mundane senses. “Yes!” he said. “I see him turning the lightsaber to strike true. And now, foolish child, he ignites it and kills his true enemy.”

It was the last thing the Supreme Leader ever said. — Kylo had indeed rotated the hilt of his lightsaber so it was pointed directly at Rey’s chest. But even as he did so, Luke’s lightsaber was rotating silently on the armrest of Snoke’s throne—unnoticed by either the Supreme Leader or the Praetorian guards. When Kylo’s fingers twitched behind his back, the blue energy blade of Luke’s lightsaber sprang into existence, spearing Snoke. Then, with a flick of Kylo’s hand, the blade carved through his master, cleaving him in two, and flew through the air into Rey’s hand.

Rey’s mouth dropped open in shock as she looked behind her, at Snoke’s fallen form, and then back at Kylo. He winked at her, and she blinked.

Had Kylo Ren just winked at her?

And then a warm feeling gushed through her, as the pieces started to fall into place. He hadn’t tricked her afterall. But, he hadn’t been able to warn her, either. Snoke would have sensed it, had her feelings of fear and betrayal not been real. Kylo had managed to hide his feelings only because he had kept his thoughts vague - he was going to destroy his enemy, just not the one that Snoke had assumed.

She became aware of his hand extended down towards her. Taking it, she allowed him to pull her to her feet. In a moment that seemed to drag on forever, they stared at one another as they had in the cave. Anyone watching would have averted their gaze, so private and intimate was the moment.

After you. Rey heard Kylo’s voice inside her head, and understood his meaning. Turning, she came face to face with the crimson-armored guards advancing on them. Four sets of pairs, she realized dizzily, and looked back at Kylo, frightened. He nodded his encouragement, and suddenly she felt stronger, as if some of his life force had been funneled into her. Not only that, but the scene before her changed: instead of regarding the guards with fear and trepidation, she hungered to meet them, to devour them whole and toss aside their lifeless bodies. She smiled with her teeth.

The guards tried to approach them all at once, but Kylo erected a field around them using the Force, allowing in only one guard at a time. As the first guard entered the makeshift arena, Rey could hear a hum from his bladed weapon, and realized the edges were enhanced by ultrasonic generators. She could feel the sensation as a throb in her teeth and sinuses.

As he lunged towards her, she shifted her feet, raising her lightsaber to meet his polearm as he tried to split open her skull. She expected the lightsaber to cleave the weapon apart, but it merely blocked the blow, and the impact sent a painful vibration shooting up her arms and into her shoulders.

She fell backwards and dodged another blow.

Let the force guide you. She heard Kylo instruct inside her head.

She exhaled, opening her mind to the force, and the room seemed to snap into focus. She could sense Kylo’s excitement, and his hunger - as if he were a beast finally freed to confront its tormentor.

She felt the guards’ coldness, mixed with determination. Their master had been undone through treachery, and they would be the instruments of his retribution. She could also feel their frustration at being held back by the forcefield. And around all of them, she perceived the evershifting web of the Force.

Lunging towards the guard, she sent her lightsaber into a dizzying arch, the bright beam nicking the brim of his helmet. He stumbled away, regarding her with newfound respect. She followed his retreat with her eyes, like a shark locked onto the scent of blood. With a brutality she didn’t know she was capable of, she flung the lightsaber like a javelin, and watched as it buried itself in the guards thigh. He screamed in pain, a bloodcurdling sound, and fell to his knees. She stepped forward, wrapped her hands around the handle of the lightsaber, and pulled it out. The smell of cauterized flesh tickled her nostrils. With one swift strike, she executed him, his head rolling onto the ground.

Kylo watched the display and felt his chest bursting with pride. He felt like a lion, teaching his young cub how to hunt. One day, she would be a force of nature. Together, the two of them would be unstoppable. The image he had seen in the cave when she had touched his face surfaced - her standing beside him, their yellow eyes peering out from beneath their hooded cloaks. Together, they would bend and twist the galaxy to their will. And there would finally be peace. And above all - they would be together. Seperating a dyad in the force was a cruel and unusual punishment, even for the Sith. Now, nothing would keep them apart. He would never let her out of his sight again. Not for as long as either of them lived.

Rey looked up to see two more guards enter the arena. She spun her lightsaber in slow, lazy arcs, eyeing the pair as they approached her. She tried to anticipate her attacker’s motions, using the Force to warn her where they would be.

Good. She heard Kylo praise her. Very good.

One of the guards rushed her, electro-whip crackling with energy that would shock her into unconsciousness. Rey’s eyes didn’t track the coiling tip of the whip, but her lightsaber was there to deflect it and send its wielder staggering away. Reaching out with her hand, she shoved the other guard backward with the Force, and then found herself spinning in the other direction. The guard with the electro-whip had grabbed hold of her arm, and suddenly electric jolts of pain shot up her arm. She tried to wiggle out of his grasp, yelping in pain. She realized too late that their armour was electric, simply touching them would shock her.

And then he was gone. She looked up just in time to see him rocketing up towards the ceiling, and then back down towards them. He landed with a sickening thud beside her.

Trying to will the feeling back into her tingling fingers, she looked up to see Kylo enter the arena. Letting down his forcefield, she watched as the remaining guards swarmed him.

In his hands, the lightsaber was a wheel of red fire that sent his attackers spinning away. One guard’s sudden uncertainty bloomed in the Force and Kylo advanced on him, his whip connecting with air, then falling from his hand as the lightsaber found a gap between his armor’s segments. Driving the lightsaber blade through the guards heart, the man slumped and Kylo shoved his body away with his booted foot.

The guard with the voulge saw his opening and charged at Kylo, weapon lowered to cleave open his stomach. The lightsaber knocked it aside and easily found the guards throat. She watched as the remaining guards attacked, one after another, until they were all reduced to a pile of bodies on the floor. When he was finished, he was barely breathing hard.

As they stood amid the smoke and carnage, her eyes were filled with joy, his with some unnamed emotion she couldn’t place her finger on. Excitement? Lust?

The deck of Snoke’s throne room thrummed, and the air was lit by the glow of turbolaser fire. After a moment, she remembered where she was, and what she needed to do. Rushing into the oculus, she stared at the pinpricks of light that represented the Resistance fleet.

So few.

“The fleet!” She yelled. “Order them to stop firing! There’s still time to save the fleet!”

When he didn’t respond, she turned to look at him.

“The fleet?” She prompted, imploring him with her eyes.

There was neither fear nor anger in Kylo’s tone now - just a deep resolve.

“It’s time to let the old things die,” he said. “Rey, I want you to join me. Snoke, Skywalker, the Sith, the Jedi, the rebels? Let it all die. We can rule together and bring a new order to the galaxy.”

And just like that, it all came crashing down around her. Kylo hadn’t crossed over to the light side. He had just wanted Snoke out of the picture so that he could become the new Supreme Leader. She stared at him in disbelief and horror.

“Don’t do this, Ben,” She said quietly. “Please don’t go this way.”

Kylo stepped over Snoke’s corpse.

“You’re still holding on,” he nearly shouted. “Let go!”

He advanced on her, the ignited lightsaber held loosely in one hand. But there was no threat in his approach. Somehow, that scared her even more.

“Do you want to know the truth about your parents?” he asked. “Or have you always known and have just hidden it away - hidden it from yourself? You know the truth. Say it!”

She tried to find the strength to defy him, to shove him away. But he was right. She did know the truth - and it was the same as her greatest fear, the one that had haunted her for so long.

A truth she could find no refuge from.

“They were nobody,” she said quietly.

“They were filthy junk traders who sold you off for drinking money,” Kylo said. “They’re dead in a pauper’s grave in the Jakku desert.”

Tears filled her eyes. She fought to keep her emotions contained, fearing that if she released them even for a moment they would overwhelm her and sweep her away.

Kylo was a pace away now, his eyes locked on hers.

“You have no place in this story,” he said. “You come from nothing. You are nothing.”

And then his eyes softened.

“But not to me. Join me. Please.”

He turned his uncle’s lightsaber off and stretched his hand out towards her.

In the ruined throne room, Rey regarded Kylo’s gloved hand, held out to her in supplication.

She knew, without a doubt, that taking his hand now would corrupt her, inside and out. Already she felt high from the recent string of murders, painfully lusting for more. It would be too easy.

She envisioned what the galaxy would look like with the two of them ruling over it with an iron clad fist. Maybe they could handle it, maybe they could quell the violence that always seemed to inevitably bubble over when sentient beings co-existed.

Or, maybe they would simply incite more violence, making everything worse than it had been before. More likely than not, the latter would ring true. Bringing peace and order to the galaxy was a farce, some phrase employed by the Sith to hide their true intentions: destroying everything and everyone around them.

As much as she wanted to take his hand, to give in to the bloodlust that was permeating her thoughts, she knew she couldn’t. It wasn’t who she was. It wasn’t who he was. And, as angry as she was with her parents betrayal, she couldn’t let it destroy her. And it would destroy her - it would destroy them both. If she took his hand, it would be their downfall, she knew it in her bones.

And more than anything else, she couldn’t stand to lose him. She understood now what she had been running from for so long - she was in love with Kylo Ren. Not because they had spent enough time together, or because she knew him well, or because he was redeemed, but because their souls were two halves of a whole. How could she not love him, when he was half of her?

In order to protect him, to protect them, she couldn’t take his hand. She could survive without him, as long as he existed somewhere out there in the galaxy. But she couldn’t survive if he somehow ceased to exist. It would kill her. This, she was sure of.

There wasn’t time to tell him all of this, and even if there were, he wouldn’t listen. He would see her actions as a betrayal, but she didn’t know how she could help that. As much as this was going to hurt him, it was going to hurt her more. But one of them had to resist the dark side, and it clearly wasn’t going to be him. At least, not yet. He needed more time, and she would find a way to give it to him.

Quickly formulating a plan, she reached out with her own hand - and before he realized her aim, she had snatched Luke’s lightsaber out of his grasp with the Force. The weapon tumbled toward her - and then froze in midair.

Kylo, his entreaty rejected, had flung up his own hand, harnessing the Force to arrest the lightsaber’s flight, as she had known he would.

The weapon hung in the air between them, quivering faintly. She stared at it, willing it into her grasp. But he was pulling it toward him with equal determination.

Between them, the lightsaber shivered and danced. They stared into one another’s eyes and saw themselves reflected back in the brilliant light. They were truly One.

She could feel the Force heaving like the sea on Alch-To, whipped into a fury by their attempts to manipulate it. And she could feel the kyber crystal at the heart of the weapon seeking a resonance, trying to find harmony where there was only dissonance. Caught in their tug-of-war, the crystal seemed to keen in the Force, a wail that she could feel in her bones. Just a little more… she thought desperately, knowing what was to come, having gleaned the information from Kylo’s head during his mind-probe of her.

They were sweating now, neither willing to give so much as a millimeter in their standoff. Until, finally, the crystal sheared apart, its unleashed energy tearing the lightsaber’s housing in half and filing the throne room with a flash of brilliant, blinding white light.

When she awoke, Rey was elated and relieved when to realize that she had recovered first. That was the only part of her plan that had hinged on pure luck.

*****

Seeking out Kylo’s sleeping form in the throne room, she crawled over to him. Peering down at his face, she was struck by how much younger he looked. The hard angles of his face were softer somehow.

I wish it didn’t have to be this way. She thought to him, even though he couldn’t hear her. I’ll be here when you’re ready.

Bending down, she lowered her lips to his face and planted a gentle kiss on his forehead. The tears were flowing in earnest as she scrambled to her feet and took off running.

*****

Now we are all caught up on TFA and TLJ (In just 5 days - can you tell that I’m just a little bit obsessive, lol). I took some creative liberties with some of the scenes, I hope no one minds too much. They don’t change the overall outcome of the story at all. I just thought it would be cute to include a scene of Kylo "training" Rey before they were thrust back onto opposite sides of the war.

Additionally, Kylo’s much more certain about his future with Rey in my FanFic than he is in the movies, so that’s why he wasn’t conflicted about betraying her or Snoke - betraying her was never an option. That’s why I cut out some of the elevator dialogue about him being conflicted, even though I liked that scene in the movie.

The mirror scene from the last chapter pretty much wrote itself, I wasn’t really intending for it to go there, but it felt right, so I left it (plus this way they get SOME intimacy before, once again, they’re thrust onto opposite sides of the war).

Sooo, the novelization for ROS doesn’t come out until March 3rd. I’ve been going back and forth on whether or not to write the remaining story myself, without the help of the novelization, or to wait until it’s out to continue.

Basically, this is the first thing I’ve ever written, and without the novelization to lean on, the quality of the writing will be much, much lower. I really thrive on having something already written and tweaking it. The thought of having nothing to go off of is… frightening, to say the very least. The chapters would also take much longer to write, obviously.

On the other hand, 2 months is a long time from now, will we all still be as obsessed with Reylo as we are now, now that the movies are over? Lol. (I’m pretty sure I will be).

What do you guys think? Wait 2 months for something higher quality, or take a stab at it now and see what happens? I’m leaning towards the former, just because I don’t want to butcher the story, but I’ll definitely take what you all want into consideration as well. Let me know in a review!

2 months really isn’t THAT long… (I just got into Star Wars last month, so I was able to binge the Reylo thing, but understand some of you shippers waited FOUR YEARS for that to become canon, holy crow!). Also, this time a girl is writing the novelization! Not just any girl, but she's written romance before! I'm SO excited.


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